Church ‘will not budge one inch’ on issue of condom use, says Cardinal Lopez Trujillo

Vatican City, May 4, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- In
an exclusive interview with Colombia’s Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN),
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council
for the Family, said the Catholic Church would not back down from its
long-standing teaching on condoms and the prevention of AIDS.

The cardinal
told RCN that the Vatican “maintains unmodified the teaching on
condoms” and said the recent statements by Italian Cardinal Maria
Martini “are nothing more than his own personal opinions which do not
reflect [Church] teaching.”

Cardinal Lopez
Trujillo said Pope Benedict XVI has not ordered any studies about
modifying the prohibition on condom use. “As a dicastery we do
not have any instruction or any indication to the contrary, to carry
out a study about something new with regards to condoms,” he stated.

The Colombian
prelate said Cardinal Martini “should explain how the condom prevents
AIDS if it is true he said it is a lesser evil.”

The Church
believes the only way to truly combat AIDS, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo
said, is through fidelity and chastity, which are the only morally
acceptable means. Contraception, the Church teaches, damages the
integrity of the full gift of self, which is intrinsic to the sexual
act.